Help with 1984 Hearthstone I

[Matt C]

Hey there!

I've just bought my first house with a real wood burning stove, a 1984 Hearthstone I (picture attached). It is just starting to get cold here in Michigan and I am trying to learn how to use this stove properly. Much fo the art of stoves adn chimeys is new to me.
It appears to be somewhat damaged and disassembled, but otherwise in very good shape. Thanks to this forum, I've already learned a lot and even got the instruction manual. But there are a few problems I'd welcome your thoughts on...

FYI - It feeds into a 60' tall masonry chimney that is clean. The interior room is two stories and pretty air tight. Temperatures are low but not that cold. 50s.

Challenges
- The interior latch on the side door is broken off. While the door will stay closed, it cannot latch firmly and is likely not airtight. I don't know how to fix this.

- The interior baffle (also pictured) was taken out for some reason. I found it in the garage and didn't realize what it was for a few months! I don't know if this needs to go back in or not.

- The main air ducts on the floor of the burn chamber were not well maintained and were full of ash. I vacuumed as much out as possible to improve airflow and that did seem to help. However, the openings are too small and I can't get at the remaining ash.

- The main problem is smoke. When a good flame is going, you can open the side door and there is little smoke. I leave the front doors open a crack to improve airflow. But firmly latching the front doors (which work very well) seems to cut off enough air to reduce almost any flame to a smolder. Opening the side door then produces a lot of smoke that blows back in to the house. I suspect that not enough air is getting in to keep the flame going.

So. The questions: 1) Do I fix it? How? 2) Reinstall the baffle? 3) How to improve airflow? 4) What am I missing?

Thanks!

-Matt

 

[begreen]

The baffle and secondary tube are quite important to improving the combustion efficiency of the stove. Both should be in place and in good condition. Contact Hearthstone for parts or try (broken link removed).

60 ft of chimney sounds extremely high. It should suck the wood out of your hands. Do you know what size the chimney flue tiles are? Are there other stoves, furnaces, etc. on this same chimney?

 

[DougA]

This should be the correct parts list.
(broken link removed to http://woodheatstoves.com/download/hearthstone%20I%20exploded%20view.pdf)

 

[fbelec]

agree with begreen. a 60 foot chimney in most cases requires a pipe damper. when you say the chimney is clean where did you see it from? i had my chimney block for buildup in the flue that i could not get from my clean out. i thought i had it clean but was all stuck between my thimble and about a foot up from the clean out at the bottom. also opening up the from door should make the smoke backup worse. make sure that the handle above the side door towards the front is your damper and that should be open or if you look in the stove should be sitting against the front of the stove anytime any door is opened.